


Shatterheart

by Ashes_Floating



Category: DCU
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-23 14:17:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11404164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashes_Floating/pseuds/Ashes_Floating
Summary: Once, there was a girl named Cassandra Cain who couldn't speak, who didn't have words but had bodies.Once, there was a girl named Stephanie Brown who had a smile that was real, despite what the world was.Now, there's a girl named CassandraCainBrown, abandoned by Shiva, found by Crystal, who's Cass's new mother, and Arthur Brown, her new father.Now, there is a girl named StephanieBrownCain, kidnapped by David Cain at only three days old, and trained to see instead of listen, move instead of speak.Cassandra Brown isn't optimistic. She's bitter and jaded, but still, she hopes. She doesn't think that Gotham can be saved, but she hopes, so when Arthur Brown goes out to challenge Batman, Cassandra puts on a grey hood and mask, calls herself Spoiler, and goes after him.Stephanie Cain is optimistic. She hopes and believes with all her heart for a better future, no matter how far away it seems. And when she is eight, she escapes, and she runs andruns.And when she is sixteen and in Gotham, and there is a nineteen year old there named Cassandra Brown, Stephanie is found.Neither are home. They're as close as they'll ever get.





	Shatterheart

When Lady Shiva had a child, she did not give it to David Cain. She did not abandon it to a life of hopelessness, and of silence.

Instead, she left it in a bad part of Gotham, left it to live or die as it might.

It lived, and it grew into a beautiful Asian girl.

She was found by a woman named Crystal Brown, the likely-infertile wife of Arthur Brown, both of whom wanted children. So Crystal brought the baby home and they named her Cassandra, after the prophetess. The prophetess who no one believed.

Not the best of omens.

And Arthur Brown did not scale back his stunts as Cluemaster, instead increasing them, avoiding Batman until Cass was two, when he finally, **finally** stopped going out as often. 

Then, as though a miracle from above, Crystal became pregnant. When the child was born, with bright blue eyes and soft blond hair, Crystal kissed her forehead and let her husband touch the child reverently.

Then, like she was never there at all, the child was stolen in the dark of night by David Cain, and he did horrible things.

But now is not the time for that story.

No, Cass kept growing, and her mockery of a father trained her in basic combat, and Cass herself worked more on it, watching videos of Batman and Robin fighting and figuring out how to do the moves herself. She learned how to move fluidly, though compared to the masters, her motions were clunky and jerky. She trained herself to fight from the ground up, and she was deemed ready to go out with her father at nine.

She flat out refused. She waited, watching, and when Arthur Brown left, she sewed herself a costume made of gray and hints of gold, and she put it on- a full body suit with a hood and a cloak and a few pockets that she stored the few weapons she knew how to use in. 

She snuck out of the house, one night, and when she saw Batman, saw Robin, and when they flew over to her, Cass threw a brick at Robin.

To be fair, she didn't expect it to hit. Robin was the master, right? Instead, it slammed into his lip and jaw, not too forcefully but still pretty hard. Cass kept going out, until Cluemaster was locked away for good, and by then, it was too much.

It was addictive, incredible. Doing good, being good... Cass didn't speak a whole lot, but when **Spoiler** was out on the streets, Spoiler quipped and teased and made puns.

Eventually, she was offered Robin after the third one vanished, and that was how she started to fall.


End file.
